Deepwater Wind grows team behind 120-MW Skipjack project

Image by Deepwater Wind (dwwind.com)

January 25 (Renewables Now) - Deepwater Wind on Wednesday announced a series of appointments for its 120-MW Skipjack wind project off the coast of Maryland as it gears for the implementation of the scheme.

The project's development manager will be Joy Weber, who will be in charge of building developments. Whitney Fiore, of St Michaels, will serve as manager of permitting and environmental affairs. Deepwater plans to submit permit applications in 2019.

The developer has also formed a local team of biologists, engineers, marine archaeologists and other researchers to conduct the comprehensive marine and environmental assessments related to the project.

The proposed wind park will be located 19.5 miles (31.4km) northeast off Ocean City’s coastline, consisting of 15 wind turbines and a subsea transmission system. During the construction phase, the project is estimated to bring USD 200 million (EUR 161.3m) in investment in Maryland.

In May 2017, the proposal received a “Qualified Offshore Wind Project” status by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PUC) that entitled it to get offshore wind renewable energy credits (ORECs) at a levelised price of USD 131.93 per MWh for a term of 20 years. The company plans could start offshore construction as early as 2021.

Deepwater Wind is the developer of America's first offshore wind farm, the 30-MW Block Island, which went live in December 2016. The company is currently also working on the 90-MW South Fork wind park off Long Island, within a federal lease area off Massachusetts, expected to be commissioned by end-2022. It is also developing a 144-MW wind farm off Massachusetts that will include battery storage capacity supplied by Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA).

Veselina Petrova is one of SeeNews Renewables most experienced green energy writers. For several years she has been keeping track of game-changing events both large and small projects and across the globe.